Looking at what it means to be an association executive

Today I ran (surfed?) across an article from Membership180.com on what it means to be a Chamber Professional. There are many overlaps between a Chamber Professional and an Association Executive, I think.

Take a look at the post here.

I can remember my first mentor told me that “No one really plans to work in associations. We all just sort of landed here.” For myself, I came to the industry through a temporary staffing service when I moved back to Tallahassee and the job I had lined up fell through at the last-minute. Thankfully the old temp agency I had worked for off and on for a couple of years called me that very week to see if I was back in town because they had a new client that needed the skills I was most skilled at. I had no idea what I was walking into. 11 years later, I’m still here…and still loving it.

Let’s Build a #Membership Prospect Mailing

Quick! The third quarter of 2014 just started – are you working on a recruitment piece yet? No? Why not? You’ve only got 2 quarters of the year left, let’s take advantage of them.

Ideally, you should send at least one recruitment piece per quarter.

Here’s an idea I’m using for my own 3rd quarter recruitment piece for one of my national trade association clients. I’ll walk you through what I’m doing and if you have any questions, please just let me know in the comments section!

Budget: $500
Target: 500 prospects
Delivery Method: Physical Mail (#10 window envelope, to be exact)

Nothin’ Good About Good-Bye

At last the time has arrived and we must now part with our unpaid members. There is nothing “good” about saying good-bye to members. Not only are they helping to fund the amazing programs we offer, they literally are the reason the association exists in the first place. Still, there comes a time when the relationship must end – at least for a while. Here are some suggestions of what you can include in a drop notice letter to your unpaid members:

Association Essentials – Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Document

For a long time I used the phrase “If I get hit by a bus tomorrow…” to explain the reason for having documentation that outlines everything I do. Apparently this phrase makes some people nervous so now I’ve changed it to “If I win the lotto tomorrow…”

Working for an Association Management Company (AMC) has taught me many skills I hadn’t even thought of when I worked as part of a captive staff association. While our AMC has different departments, so much of what we do bleeds over and through every person who works here. Keeping not only members happy but also our clients happy is the job of every single person – no matter what their position. I think we’ve all been the victim of an out of date procedure manual at some point in our lives and it is not a fun place to be.